The data comes from the audit carried out by a team from the National General Trustees (SIGEN) between June 16 and 19, in order to the failed decree that had ordered the intervention of the agro-exporter. Ambit He accessed the meticulous accounting of funds carried out on June 16 at Vicentin’s headquarters in the Santa Fe town of Avellaneda. Upon opening the safe, the officials counted $ 5,844,268.25; $ 326,640; and € 8,185. According to the data provided by the treasurer and the documents surveyed, it emerged that part of the money in pesos corresponded to different companies: Vicentin SAIC $ 4,422,344.67; Algodonera Avellaneda $ 1,432,783.39; Buyanor SA $ 7,892.72; Río del Norte SA $ 2,320, Oleaginosa San Lorenzo SA $ 2,310; and Emulgrain SA – $ 2,253.50, yielding a balance of $ 5,865,397.28.
“From the survey carried out by the audit team, it is clear that the assets of the different companies mentioned overlap with the assets of Vicentin SAIC”said the SIGEN audit. From the above emerges “An important weakness from the point of view of internal control, since it not only denotes a departure from the mechanisms for safeguarding the Company’s assets but also a potential risk of using funds from Vicentin SAIC in order to cancel.”
At the time of the accounting of the values, a total of 80 checkbooks were posted in the safe with the following breakdown: Vicentin 34; Algodonera Avellaneda 16; Buyanor 4; Oleaginosa San Lorenzo 20; Sir Cotton 1; Rio del Norte 4; and Diferol 1. In this regard, SIGEN’s experts argued that this shows that “Vicentin SAIC manages the administration of other Companies, whether it has a significant shareholding (99% of Oleaginosa San Lorenzo SA or 94.97% of DIFEROL ), a medium (50% in Río del Norte SA) or small participation percentages (3% in Sir Cotton SA, 2.99% in Algodonera Avellaneda SA or 0.60% in Buyanor SA) ”.
Complete check stubs signed blank (with a single signature) were also found in the count, “which represents a serious weakness of internal control, as well as a high risk”the report held. Such is the case of checkbooks of Vicentin SAIC (Account No. 7/69 of Banco Credicoop) and of the controlled firm, Algodonera Avellaneda SA (Account No. 70129/07 of Banco Bisel).
What caught the attention of the observers is that the treasurer did not present a record of the issued checks that would provide certainty and favor the control of payments made from this instrument. Furthermore, there were some checks that could not be recorded and / or registered in the Accounting System provided by Oracle (example: check N ° 4765 from Banco Nación Argentina Sucursal Reconquista, check N ° 61762740 from Banco Provincia Santa Fe Sucursal Avellaneda ). Likewise, the SIGEN audit highlights that, in one of the complete blank stubs kept in the safe, a check was found missing (Check No. 27852951 of Account No. 70129/07 of Banco Bisel). “The existence of a large number of accumulated blank checkbooks has been observed, which increases the risk regarding their custody”, the report concluded.
These situations made it possible to verify inadequate security in the safekeeping of checkbooks. The officials indicated that, although the complete blank stubs are kept in the company safe, this is not the case with the stubs in use, which are all kept together in a file box, in an office with the door without key. “All these shortcomings represent serious weaknesses of internal control in the check payment circuit, representing a potential risk to Vicentin’s assets”they pointed out. Moreover, in the safe 34 checks were found receivable by Vicentin for a total of $ 883,544,861.59.
Debt concentrated in few hands
At the time of presenting the Preventive Contest, Vicentin recognized a debt of $ 99,345,263,086.50; distributed in 2,638 creditors, with the following breakdown:
-Purchase of grains: 1,895 cases for $ 25,656,961,251.51 (represents 25.83% of the total debt).
-Purchase of goods and services: 586 cases for 2,292,013,982.29 (2.31%).
-Financial debt: 37 cases for $ 63,961,563,645.69 (64.38%)
-Customs and tax: 19 cases for $ 1,655,219,311.57 (1.67%)
-Shareholders: 98 cases for $ 351,211,982.29 (0.35%).
-Societies Art. 33: 3 cases for $ 5,428,292,913.15 (5.46%).
Without considering the type of credit, 1% of the creditors, that is, 26 cases, has 80.43% of the total debt of Vicentin. Also, dThe data shows that the items Purchase of grains and Financial Debt together amount to 90.21% of the total debt of Vicentin. As for the producers and / or collectors, 1% of them have 56% of the credits. Regarding financial debt, There are 37 creditors, 23 local creditor banks for $ 27,623,318,106.98, and 14 international ones that concentrate $ 36,338,245,538.71.
In the case of national banks, The largest creditor is Banco Nación, through the Reconquista branch of Santa Fe, with a total of $ 18,182,297,617.70, which represents 66% of the total debt with local financial entities.
It is worth remembering that during the administration of Javier González Fraga at the head of Banco Nación, the cereal company became the most important borrower, receiving a lenient controller from the public entity that during the last stretch of Mauricio Macri’s government, he allowed him to take out loans even when his financial situation was already in decline.
A corporate spider web
Even though the information is partial and out of date, it appears from the accounting statements of the cereal company for the year 2018, provided by the company in its contest, that Vicentin is a partner, directly or through one of its controlled or related companies, of the following companies:
Oleaginosa San Lorenzo SA (99% shareholding); Renova SA (33.33%); Rio del Norte (50%); Diferol (94.97%); Vicentin Paraguay (97%; the other 3% is from Algodonera Avellaneda SA); Vicentin Europa SL (100%); Vicentin Brazil (100%); Vicentin Desarrollos SA (50%, through Oleaginosa San Lorenzo SA. The other 50% is Sir Cotton SA); Migasa Soya (50%, through Vicentín Europa SL); Emulgrain Europa (50%, through Vicentin Europa SL); Friar SA (0.39%); Buyanor SA (0.60%, 50% is held by Industria Agroalimentaria LATAM, controlled 100% by Vicentin Family Group SA – Uruguay); Terminal Puerto Rosario SA (10.20%); Playa Puerto SA (10.20%); Emulgrain SA (25%); Juviar SA (3.00%); Sir Cotton SA (3.00%. The remaining 97% is held by Industria Agroalimentaria LATAM, controlled 100% by Vicentin Family Group SA – Uruguay); Algodonera Avellaneda SA (2.99%. The remaining 97% is held by VFG Inversiones y Artistas Especiales, controlled 100% by Vicentin Family Group SA – Uruguay); ENAV SA (5.00%); Sottano SA (5.00%); Renopack (50%. The remaining 50% belongs to Sir Cotton SA); and Biogas Avellaneda SA (50%).
In this regard, the SIGEN report stated that it is Vicentin itself that recognizes that it manages (that is, carrying out, among others, the circuits of billing, payments, collections, and cash and banks; the accounting recording of operations; property management; and computer systems) to Buyanor SA, Algodonera Avellaneda SA, Oleaginosa San Lorenzo SA, Renopack, Sir Cotton SA, Emulagrain SA, Sottano SA, Servicios Fluviales SRL, Rio del Norte SA, Vicentin Desarrollos SA, Sudestes Textiles SA and Diferol SA.
In addition, the analysis of payments by checks, the billing records and sales credits, the deed records of assets and the signed Board Minutes, the completion of different asset purchase / sale operations between the different Group companies is verified, both locally and internationally.
“The description not only shows the complex interaction of the different controlled, related and related companies of Vicentin SAIC, but also the existence of a generalized administrative disorder, a situation that prevents the accurate and reliable identification of the operations corresponding to the commercial operations of each company and the specific identification of its assets and liabilities “, the experts explained.
Along these lines, from the analysis of the board minutes, it emerges the scant analysis of the issues dealt with in the meetings of the board of directors, and the lack of a “medium and long-term Strategic Plan that surely undermined the possibilities of continuing the company’s business under normal conditions. In the same way, the approval of an Investment Plan has not been visualized in recent years ”.
Vicentin assets
In a Preventive Bankruptcy, it is important to survey the assets of the bankrupt company. In the case of Vicentin, the audit carried out by Vicentin was unable to access the inventory of the cereal company’s assets.
In fact, at the time of the presentation of the contest, the reported fixed assets are presented in a generic manner, without an adequate description that allows their identification.
Both in the case of real estate and recordable furniture, the SIGEN team was unable to link the inventory listings of the assets, with the available information, due to the lack of registration data that allow their identification in particular.
“The precariousness of the registry and the absence of adequate, sufficient and consistent information that allows the identification of the properties and vehicles owned by Vicentin SAIC, as well as the partial reevaluation carried out, prevent or at least make it difficult to know with certainty the valuation of all the Company’s fixed assets “, indicated the audit.
The exhaustive survey carried out by the SIGEN in those critical days of June, unquestionably reveals a series of irregularities that reveal the handling at least questionable, which led Vicentin to register a serious and striking loss of assets in just 20 months.
As a corollary, the SIGEN audit indicated that “The centralized administration of many of the Group’s companies leads to the overlapping of the assets of the different companies, as was evident in the accounting of funds, a circumstance that not only denotes a departure from the mechanisms for safeguarding the assets of the Company but also a potential risk of using funds from VICENTIN SAIC in order to cancel commitments of other companies, to the detriment of the Corporate Equity ”.
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